Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, and other highlights from our colleagues across the Internet — and, occasionally, our own writers. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage. The most complete American retrospective of Lav […]

More than a year after our first look arrived, we finally have some more substantial glimpses at one of our most-anticipated pictures of 2014: Miss Julie, which sees Jessica Chastain, Samantha Morton, and Colin Farrell lead another interpretation of the eponymous classic text, this time adapted by none other than Liv Ullmann. Not just another […]

I was using Shut Up and Play the Hits as background noise last night, in this half-watch finding myself oddly bored by anything that wasn’t James Murphy screaming onstage at Madison Square Garden. Everything else — and there is much “else,” I’m afraid — was so clearly affected, and while I’d hardly consider it the […]

Fresh off André Téchiné‘s Cannes premiere In the Name of My Daughter, Catherine Deneuve, still the most iconic European actress walking this planet — and still, to the mind of many (myself included), the most iconic, period — has been slotted for another project, this one lined up by Broken Circle Breakdown producer Felix Van […]

While he’s currently off to work on the Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston-led horror feature Crimson Peak, Guillermo del Toro is keeping busy with a variety of side projects. His FX show The Strain will bow in July and this fall brings another producing effort, the feature animation The Book of Life. The first trailer […]

After directing such television as Dexter, Six Feet Under and, most recently, Homeland, helmer Michael Cuesta (L.I.E.) is back with a new drama and today we have the first trailer. Led by Jeremy Renner, Kill the Messenger follows the true story of a journalist, Gary Webb, who, in 1996, asserted the C.I.A was involved in crack cocaine importation to California. Sadly, (and spoilers, […]

GRADE: 3 out of 5

I’m probably going to be alone on this one, but what the hell, I actually quite enjoyed A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST. The movie’s not all the time funny, but for those few funny moments it has, they’re really funny. And I’d have to agree with arguments out there that Seth MacFarlane should probably stay behind the camera or stick to just doing voices, but can you blame the guy for making himself the star of his own movie?! If he’s going to write and produce the damn thing, why not star in it too. Lots of people including Ben Affleck and Clint Eastwood do it, not that I would ever put Seth MacFarlane on their same level.

But let’s start with the not so great parts about A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST. Seth MacFarlane has this one certain weakness, that’s shown also on ‘Ted’ and his ‘Family Guy’ series, in that he spends too much time explaining things to the audience. His character, Albert, would stop every five minutes or so, to give these long commentaries about the harsh and brutal condition of the wild wild west, to his co-characters. He’s more preachy than the preacher in that town. As if he’s the only one who’s able to make those observations and the others are just dumb folks tagging along for the ride. If you didn’t like ‘Ted’, if you don’t like ‘Family Guy’, then chances are you won’t enjoy A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST, because it’s the same brand of humor, same type of potty jokes and Seth’s character, once again, gets to say most of the puns and punch lines.

But I just don’t see how Seth would ever change his style in the near future. He’s just going to keep doing what he’s doing for the people who actually get him.

Now.. I think A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST is a clever comedy, because Seth’s way of poking fun at everything that’s stereotypical about cinema’s depiction of the wild west, is spot-on! The supporting characters he and his co-scribes created for this film may not all contribute to the transformation of Albert from an insecure sheep herder to a confident gun-fighting sheep herder. You gotta give this movie some credit for the battle between Seth’s and NPH’s characters, you can always make time to enjoy douchebags vs. underdogs, that’s why we enjoyed Biff Tannen Vs. Marty McFly, by the way, A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST has a brilliant idea of incorporating one of geeks’ favorite characters of all-time. And I just couldn’t keep my eyes off of the beautiful Charlize Theron. That girl can be tough when she wants to, can be funny wants to, she’s like Sandra Bullock, can hang with the boys, and that’s what makes Theron just absolutely cool in this film. A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST probably won’t go down in history as the funniest western comedy since ‘Blazing Saddles’, but I’m glad it exists.

I’ve already screened this film, but I’ll save my review for opening weekend, in the meantime, check out this new trailer for SNOWPIERCER.

Opens nationwide on June 27th

In this sci-fi epic from director Bong Joon-Ho (The Host, Mother), a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet. The final survivors board the SNOWPIERCER, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine. When cryptic messages incite the passengers to revolt, the train thrusts full-throttle towards disaster.